Ladies of Lore
by Ex the Firefly
Summary: AQW. Naahma Mayfly and Tarinnia Belle are two normal women living in magical Lore. However, when they find the talking Lore Grimoire, their simple lives are traded for a hilarious adventure no one will ever forget!
1. Can't Judge People By Their Covers

Ohhey, look, readers! Anyways, name's Ex, and here's a story about two women going on a super awesome adventure! So, the plot basically revolves around the premises of the 13 Lords of Chaos, the current plot in AQWorlds. Except plus a bunch of nonsense and two women. Who are both somewhat perverted. And a talking book with various mental conditions.

... Yes, really.

Written in conjunction with my dear friend, Bunny. Love you, Bunbun~. Oh, and I might add other quests/mini-plots as spinoffs, although don't expect any member-only stuff. I don't have the money to get member-only stuff. Blah. Only going to do spinoffs if I get off my lazy bum. Which is a big if.

* * *

The morning atmosphere was cold; heavy drops of rain crashed onto the fertile soil. The cliff's steep incline was slippery when wet (as Tarinnia quickly learned, considering she was wearing sandals), and lightning lit up the overcast sky.

"Ooh, look, Tari!" Naahma enthusiastically yelled, waving her armour clad arm toward the dark skinned mage, "You can see the castle from here! Doesn't it look creepy and cool?"

"I'ma sure it looks amazing, Naahma," Tarinnia replied in a tired drawl, envious of the rogue's speed and boundless energy. Locks of snowy white hair fell over the mage's amethyst eyes; what were they doing on the outskirts of town at this time anyways?

Oh, right. A morning jog.

Flashes of lightning turned the sky into a catastrophic dance of light and sound. Tarinnia moved towards Naahma, staring at the view. Had the weather been agreeable, it would have been a splendid sight, but the truth was, thunderstorms weren't agreeable in the least. "C'mon, let's go back home," Tarinnia asked gently (knowing full well that Naahma would flat out ignore her), reaching an arm out to Naahma. However, the action came a bit too slowly.

A sudden, bold flash of lightning and thunder gave way to very terrified screeches as the cliff Naahma had been standing on gave way to the forces of gravity. Naahma was sent tumbling down the cliff, the only thing separating her from a serious trip to Cleric Joy being metal sheets of armour (not that this would change Naahma's certain favour of the leather armour, but she had no money to buy it, which was strange considering that leather was usually cheaper than steel). Tarinnia raced down the safer (... sort of) side of the cliff, using her wooden staff to jump over puddles and mud, but gravity simply pulled Naahma down faster.

When Tarinnia reached the ground she took notice of a little blue rabbit-mouse thing watching in sadistic delight ("Let's see how right and mighty he feels once I roast him through and through," Tarinnia had complained a few days ago for unknown reasons). A series of grunts and complains grabbed her attention, leading Tarinnia to Naahma, whose black hair looked brown under the layers of mud.

"How did you survive that?" Tarinnia asked, as asking, 'Are you okay?' would have been pointless.

"Like hell I know, but I'd never try it again," Naahma answered gruffly, standing up in the puddle she had dropped into. At this moment the rogue noticed Zorbak who was smiling like the demented Moglin he bloody was. Clearly, he was highly amused by Naahma's act of clumsiness she was so known for. Both girls planned on giving him a piece of their mind, mostly because everyone else in Lore wanted to.

"Zorbak, you blue fuzzball of dickery," Tarinnia 'greeted' him, followed closely by Naahma, "Come over here so we can roast your hide and sell your severed head to the highest bidder."

"Fuck you," Zorbak answered, completely unfazed. He had no reason to be afraid of a clumsy rogue and a fairly newbie-ish mage and as a result there was no reason for him to be gentle or courteous.

"You first, or we whine to Warlic about you," Tarinnia spat, grinning victoriously. Zorbak seemed to pale at the threat. In Lore, you did not mess with the Blue Mage, "Let's see how you like dem apples, darlin'."

"Fags," Zorbak finally snarled, "I hope Bloodtooth eats you both up."

"What the hell is a Bloodtooth?" Naahma curiously added, her own childish personality quickly overcoming whatever grudge she held against the evil Moglin.

"Giant red dragon. Kidnapped the princess. The entire mainland has been talking about it. It happened sometime at dawn," Zorbak explained, although his tone was quite cold, "There's a big reward if you save her."

"We need money, Tarinnia!" Naahma excitedly shouted, "We just need to pay Penny a bit more until the house is ours."

"Go ahead," Zorbak gestured towards the brown dirt road, smirking. There was a glint in his dark, dark eyes that Tarinnia did not trust at all, "I hope I can find whatever leftovers Bloodtooth has left. They'll look lovely in my collection. If he leaves any leftovers, anyways."

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Naahma had planned on going to find Bloodtooth immediately, but Tarinnia had other plans. She convinced Naahma that they should go home first and stock up, as there was no sense in attacking a dragon without decent weapons (actually, there was no sense in attacking at all, as Naahma and Tarinnia weren't the strongest of people who walked through Battleon).

"I don't at all understand what the use of that there thing is," Naahma commented, wondering if she should try and hold the staff or just poke its gooey... goo, "Where did you find it anyways?"

"Maya needed me to help her get rid of some Slimes," Tarinnia said, holding the slimey staff closer to Naahma (who poked the eyes at the top which responded by blinking at her), "I found one of them holding this."

"... I didn't think Slimes had the proper limbs to hold anything."

"That really doesn't matter right now," Tarinnia asserted, "There's a path from here to a cliff that has a good view of the sky. We can go through that. I need to drop off some books to Maya anyways. Donating is always good, right?"

"Books are boring."

"Not the ones I read!" Tarinnia squealed. Naahma stared, thoroughly wary of Tarinnia's books, and didn't question her any further.

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Luckily, the Slimes were rather cooperative today, and most of them allowed the women to pass. On the way, Tarinnia and Naahma talked about how Slime jelly tasted- probably helped. The Sneevil wandering around also left them alone, probably because Tarinnia and Naahma were quite a few feet taller then them. When they got to the bookstore, Tarinnia was the first one to jump right up to the giant... green... thing (Naahma called him an horc, but Tarinnia simply stuck with the aforementioned description), and shouted, "Hey, mister giant green thing, where'd Maya go?"

"Wut you mean! Dogear get bookstore fair and square from nice Lady. She get da club and Dogear get the bookstore," the horc assured. Somewhat skeptical but overall uncaring of what exactly happened, Tarinnia handed her old books to Dogear... who promptly took a bite out of the cover.

"He's eating the book," Tarinnia pointed out, to which Naahma said something about Tarinnia eating much stranger concoctions.

"Food for thought!" Dogear began, "Dey tell Dogear you can no judge book by cover. HAH! Dis one look AND taste just like beef jerky!"

"Beef jerky?" Tarinnia asked, crossing her arms indignantly, "Seriously, don't eat those books, I'm actually doing something out of the goodness of my heart here, dearie."

"You want books you do quests!" Dogear spat out, leaving blobs of saliva Naahma could only compare to Tarinnia's slimey staff. "Go fetch Dogear Slime in jars, they-"

Naahma and Tarinnia interrupted Dogear, "Oh, hi Maya," they both chimed, having walked to the legged bush the moment Dogear mentioned working.

"Tarinnia! Naahma!" Maya breathed after Tarinnia removed the cloth that secured her mouth, "Help!"

"He didn't rape you, did he, Maya?" Tarinnia swiftly questioned, earning her a creeped out look from Dogear and the real bookstore owner (Naahma, being almost as perverted as Tarinnia, simply giggled at the image). "No? Alright then, what happened, Maya?" Tarinnia added. Dogear was about to run away, but Naahma already had a knife at his throat. The rogue grinned wickedly, mostly to intimidate. Dogear was a massive horc after all, but judging by his grammar, he wasn't very smart, and Naahma figured intimidating him would be easy.

Maya, who Tarinnia had helped up, as her arms were tied up with thick rope, spluttered, "He's an impostor!" (Causing both Tarinnia and Maya to quip, "No shit.")

"Oh crap," Dogear growled, looking about to find a good hiding place. The green giant effortlessly slapped Naahma to the ground as if she was a rag doll and, as quick as his clumsy legs could carry him, headed for the bookstore, bulk crashing through the door.

"Ah, well, that was easier than I expected," the fairly powerless Maya expressed as Naahma (who got up after swearing loudly and shamelessly) cut through the ropes with a knife, "Wait, did he just run into the bookstore?"

"Run into is right," Naahma repeated, staring at the broken down door. Splinters were scattered on the ground, leaving a few books (and halves of some) buried, "We can get him out of there, right, Tari?" Naahma asked sweetly. Before Tarinnia could reply, Naahma had jumped into the small store, armed with her armour and an old knife.

It was all Tarinnia could do just to keep up with the agile Naahma, who weaved through the shelves of books and jumped over the scattered ones like she was flying. Tarinnia merely swept books out of her path with her slimey staff, leaving trails of goo in her wake (not that it really mattered since the place was a mess already). However, her slimey staff wasn't strong enough to shield her from Naahma, who was sent flying in the opposite direction that she had been walking in.

Naahma crashed into Tarinnia, sending both of them barreling into some books. The books came crashing down on them in a pile, leaving both women dazed and shocked. One book in particular began to speak to them, and they both swore they were hallucinating the entire thing, "OMG, OMG, OMG, don't let him eat me!"

"Someone's been hangin' out at the Inn Ternet," Tarinnia groaned, pushing Naahma off her legs.

"Yeah, you sound like Artix," Naahma agreed, getting up and stretching her back, "and since when could books talk?"

Before any questions could be answered, the sound equivalent of a house being brought down rocked the bookstore. The large horc knocked down the remaining book shelves, causing the talking grimoire to hide behind planks of wood, "I AM DOGEAR THE SPINE BENDER," bellowed the green mass of muscle, tearing through the debris and sending dust flying. Naahma and Tarinnia hopped back, the great beast's flailing arms narrowly missing their heads. Both woman scowled, minds racing in order to figure out the fastest and least damaging way of taking Dogear down.

"Tarinnia!" Naahma shouted over the sounds of a giant green thing crashing into wood as he searched for his pursuers, "Cover me!"

Without waiting for a reply, Naahma raced away from her hiding place. The armour she wore lacked the bulky metal traditional armour had and it showed. With grace and speed not normally seen in Naahma Mayfly, she began stabbing the horc in constant succession, the vicious, crying shouts from Dogear confirming the damage.

As this happened, Tarinnia was busy concentrating on a spell, eyes shut. The slimey staff she gripped tightly in her right hand glowed a soft blue, particles of ice forming a haze around the gelatinous form. Eyes opening, the mage-in-training held her staff with both hands and took aim. A mouse-sized sphere of energy shot forth, leaving a stunning trail of glistening snow in its wake. Ice hit horc and the magic took its effect, slowing down Dogear enough to make Naahma's attacks seem like blurs of daggers and knives...

However, even that was not enough. Dogear's brute strength and mass stopped the ice shard magic from piercing deep enough into his skin. A lucky hit from Dogear's fist sent Naahma flying into a wall.

"This isn't working!" Tarinnia informed, firing a fire ball at Dogear. A book was subsequently thrown at her face, but she ducked and it hit the window behind her sending pieces of glass onto the grass. Tarinnia could faintly hear Maya scream about a piece of glass going right through the brain of a Slime. With sudden insight, Tarinnia ran towards Naahma, hiding behind toppled books and splintered shelves, avoiding Dogear as well as she could.

The two women exchanged tired whispers, "If your ice shard can't puncture his skin, my poison... ah, I see," Naahma murmured and, with a quick, understanding nod, they began the fight gain.

"Eat fire, Doggy!" Tarinnia howled. Without an enhanced staff for her to channel her powers through, the fire was weaker and took longer to form, but actually harming Dogear wasn't the point. Dogear twisted his thick neck towards Tarinnia, wide mouth curving into a frown. He really did have to get out, but with these little girls following him, it would be impossible. Dogear charged towards Tarinnia, large hands grabbing at the dark skinned mage's torso. In a smooth movement, Tarinnia had stepped under Dogear's arms and was safely running away, putting a good distance between her and Dogear (well, as much distance as she could, considering the size of Maya's bookstore). Before Dogear could start running, Naahma suddenly dropped onto his shoulders.

"Eat poison, cunt!" Naahma snarled, holding onto Dogear's neck with her legs. She held up Tarinnia's slimey staff, one of Naahma's own vials of poison held fast in the staff's sticky cover. The vial was cracked and empty, poison having spread through the staff's membrane. With as much force as she could muster, Naahma plunged the staff right into Dogear's mouth. Thrown off the horc and landing on her back for the third time in the past few minutes, Naahma watched the remainder of the brawl from shadows cast by sun and wood.

The poison's effect was swift and Tarinnia was able to deal damage much easier. Of course, her slimey staff was being eaten by a giant horc, which didn't bode very well, but at least it was for a good cause. The rapid succession of fireballs and ice shards was doing a good amount of damage and Dogear was slowly being whittled away. "Naahma, you okay?" Tarinnia shouted after firing another fireball, hoping that the fire was magical enough to not cause a bookstore fire. A few more fireballs and ice shards finally caused Dogear to topple over and Naahma immediately tied up the dazed and weak horc with rope she had found lying around, "Poison is the answer to everything!" Naahma triumphantly stated, placing her foot on Dogear's chest.

"Nu-uh, the answers were my fire and ice spells, dear," Tarinnia offered to argue, "But anywhoo... we should prolly find Maya and tell her everything is alright. And find some authorities so they can get rid of Dogear."

"And find someone to help Maya rebuild her now destroyed store before we get stuck with the job?"

"Yep."

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"He ate the books you told me about?" Maya echoed, clearly crestfallen, "From what you told me, they were very enjoyable, too."

"You two are such pervs," Naahma said, laughing softly. Behind the three women, various men from the main town of Battleon were helping with the repairs. Some other men had towed Dogear away, likely to some cell.

"Anyways," Maya began as she sorted through the books she could recover that weren't half eaten by Dogear/scorched by Tarinnia, "thanks for the help. Here, I've got some stuff I want you to have."

"Ooh, thanks!" Tarinnia exclaimed, not even bothering to count the amount of money Maya had given them. The money wasn't much, but it would take Tarinnia and Naahma a step closer to paying for the house. Finally, the little house would officially be theirs. Tarinnia looked back at the book Maya had given them, instantly recognizing it as the book that had been 'talking' to them during the scuffle.

"What it is?" Naahma asked, swiping the book from Tarinnia's grasp, and flicking through the pages, "It doesn't have any words on it. What's Artix Entertainment? I never knew Artix was the head of a company."

"I don't know. Actually, this is the first time I've seen it before," Maya admitted, "but it's all I can really give you. Sorry."

"It's no problem," Tarinnia assured, "We'd better be off now. Cliffs to climb, dragon to slay. General hero stuff, yanno?"

"Good luck and be careful," Maya advised, waving as the two women began walking away. Only when Maya and her bookstore were completely out of sight did Tarinnia and Naahma stop waving.

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"I have no idea how this works," Naahma muttered, flicking through the book's pages, "I think it's possessed. Look!" Showing the book to Tarinnia, Naahma flicked through various pages. The first ones had information on both Tarinnia and Naahma, although it didn't go very deep into their histories. Their blood-type and skills were etched in elegant cursive along with their current occupations: Tarinnia the mage-in-training, studying under Battleon's own Warlic ("I think he's pissed off about me skipping all those classes... maybe I'll go back this week."), and Naahma, the rogue who was found by Metrea three years ago.

"That's right there is just plain ol' creepy," Tarinnia agreed in her drawl of an accent. They were sitting in a clearing, attention taken from the idea of slaying a dragon and given to the mysterious book. It was a leathery thing with bumps on its worn cover that vaguely resembled a face and shining, golden trim, "Yeah, it's prolly cursed. I can beg Warlic to take a look at it if he doesn't try ta' wring my brains out for not training."

"You could burn it. Fire solves everything," Naahma responded cleverly. Her smug grin was quickly wiped away when she felt the book bite her thumb.

Cue two grown women screaming like children.

"No, don't burn me!" The book begged, jumping out of Naahma's hands and landing on the grass. By now its cover had become a very human-like face with sapphire eyes and a mouth that moved as it spoke. "I- I'll make you the chosen ones! Really! Just don't burn me!"

"... holy crap," Naahma whispered. Tarinnia picked up the book by its back cover.

"... you talk," she said simply, having nothing else to really say. It was a freaking talking book and she didn't _quite _know what kind of conversations talking books took part in.

"Yes, yes! I am the Lore Grimoire! Please don't hurt me!" the Lore Grimoire squealed, "I'll make you the chosen ones! Just keep me alive, you have no idea how scary it was! I was about to be eaten."

"Okay, er, Grimoire," Tarinnia answered, "So... would ya like to go back?"

"Squished between a bunch of hentai? NO! I love mangas and comics but..," Grimoire yelled, shuddering, "Take me with you! Let me see something other than... than _those_."

"Tarinnia would love to see _those_," Naahma pipped, "Okay, Grimoire, you're part of the team now! Time to slaughter a dragon!"

Grimoire seemed to pale at the thought of slaughtering a dragon.


	2. And So It Begins

Look, Ex is back! Anyways, I need to mention some things. Firstly, Tarinnia has a southern accent... _thing_. Actually, I don't know how it sounds; Tarinnia is Bunny's character, not mine. I'm hoping that I can stop with the author's notes soon because they look kind of unprofessional. Ohwell. Expect some alternate character interpretations; their dialogue on AQW doesn't give me enough personality and I haven't played any other games.

* * *

The cliff Tarinnia had been talking about wasn't empty. Two people stood there armed with a giant crossbow, studying the circling shadow of a large dragon. Below the cliff, bright yellow tape signaled the surrounding area as off-limits; various townsfolk and adventurers (the latter easily noticed by their shining armour and weapons) walked passed it. News had spread rather quickly and all people were told to stay _away_ from the dragon. This was a much trickiery process than most realized. Calming down everyone would be even trickiery.

"Bloodtooth's too high for us to reach by traditional methods," Robina noted, crossing her arms and fiddling with her bronze coloured gloves. Azure eyes searched the equally azure sky, watching and waiting. If Bloodtooth descended, people would come to fight, and in that fight, the princess might be injured.

"But if we shoot down the dragon, the princess will fall too," Artix voiced both their worries. Dragonslaying was usually done by Galanoth, but he and his order were busy investigating Vasalkar's lair, and the trip to Battleon would take far too long. The two watched for a few minutes, quietly considering possible actions: sending a powerful being to attack Bloodtooth was no longer an option, as the large dragon would probably threaten them with the death of King Alteon's daughter. King Alteon himself was busy preparing for something. His love for his daughter was strong, true, but there were problems to attend to that not even the Paladins were allowed to know about. They could always send in a less powerful person, someone Bloodtooth saw no threat in, but that would mean possibly sacrificing a life. And even then, they had no way of getting them up to Bloodtooth without alerting the great beast.

Robina sighed. She always hated this feeling, this oppression. She was a ranger: rangers were crafty and knew how to deal with any problem! But this... this was too much! A conundrum of grave importance. Kneading her forehead, Robina shifted her gaze to Artix... who was _smiling_, "Artix, what the _hell _do you think you're doing, smiling at a time like this?" Robina questioned, arms placed akimbo accompanied with the most serious face she could muster.

Artix, in response, raised his axe and rested it on his shoulder, looking as optimistic as ever, "Don't worry, I'm _sure _we can do this," he pledged leading Robina to mutter something about Artix not being so confident the last time she snuck a red hat into his laundry, turning all his white clothes a shade of pink, "we just need a way to get up there without the dragon noticing."

"Oh, I think we can help," Naahma added suddenly, stepping through some foilage. Tarinnia emerged right behind Naahma carrying Grimoire under her arms.

Tarinnia, being the social and occasionally hyper one, swiftly highfived Artix and said: "Long time no see! You haven't been at Inn Ternet in ages. Otix and everyone were worried you found a new place to hang out."

"WTF, Inn Ternet is the best tavern around! Why would I ever forget about it?" Artix reminded.

"For the last time, Artix, _stop it with the chatspeak_," scolded Robina.

"Anyways," Naahma continued, "like I said, me and Tarinnia totally have a plan."

"... wait, how did you two get here?" Robina interrogated, "We marked this area off limits. Didn't you see the yellow tape? And how do you know Artix anyways?"

"Oh, well, me and my friend Tarinnia over here went to the tavern on Dwarfhold for a little vacation a few months ago. We met Artix there high off raspberry liqueur, and-"

"Spare Robina the details!" Artix interrupted.

"Fine, fine," Naahma waved her arm to dismiss the explanation, "Anyways, me and Tarinnia have a plan. We've sort of been listening behind the bushes there. And to answer your question, miss Robina, we didn't see any yellow tape." (Lies.)

"Alright then. I suppose it got knocked over by a Sneevil or something," Robina allowed, shrugging, "So, tell us your plan. We're getting a bit desperate."

"Great!" Tarinnia began before Naahma could hog all the good lines, "So, how far can those arrows on your super-big crossbow reach, miss Robina?"

"Far enough to hit Bloodtooth, but not enough for him to care much. Dragons have tough scales- he'd just laugh."

"Good. Now, let's just calculate some measurements..."

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"You two must be crazy. I think the liqueur from the tavern has permanently damaged your brain," Robina commented dryly, eyeing the two women, obviously skeptical. Tarinnia and Naahma were strapped to the large arrow, Grimoire placed snugly in Tarinnia's satchel.

"Of _course _we're crazy. Otherwise, we wouldn't be doing this," Tarinnia reminded warmheartedly, patting the wooden arrow, "Okay, dearies, I think we're strapped in tightly enough. Shall we give it a test?"

"Hell yes! Let it go!" Naahma cheered, holding the arrow tightly. Robina kneaded her forehead again (she was going to take a _long _bath once- or if- they got the dragon down) and nodded to Artix who was waiting at the crossbow's trigger. With the push of a button, Naahma and Tarinnia were sent flying and the town below them suddenly became very, very small.

"We are going to regret this!" Tarinnia yelled even as her breath escaped her lungs. She clutched the arrow for dear life, nails digging into its wooden body. Behind her, Naahma was busy looking over her back, eyes widening in true fear as they got nearer and nearer to the dragon Bloodtooth.

The arrow finally struck its target: the base of Bloodtooth's tail. Up close, the dragon was clearly large and old, at least the size of a mansion. Naahma had very little time to estimate the exact measurements because physics suddenly came into play (which was odd because the laws of physics didn't usually work in magical Lore). Naahma slid down the arrow, back suddenly crashing into Bloodtooth's thick hide. The pain was increased when Tarinnia collided into Naahma due to the same forces.

"How many times are we going to slam into a hard object today?" Naahma yelled, stabbing a knife under Bloodtooth's scales. She used it to pull herself onto his tail, refusing to look at the miniscule town below. There was an astounding amount of space to stand. This did not make balancing any easier. Swearing under her breath and wishing she had a staff to help her keep her footing, Tarinnia spread her legs to gain more balance. Naahma was doing the same thing, her rogue training giving her a slight edge.

"Alright, now we send up a flare, right?" Tarinnia asked, straining her voice to shout over the winds at this height. Something was strange: the dragon which just got an arrow lodged into its tail wasn't reacting in pain and continued to circle at a steady pace. Naahma wasn't listening, or she couldn't hear Tarinnia. Infact, Naahma was looking at the landscape ("You can see our house from up here!"). Leaving Naahma to sightsee (on top of a giant, dangerous dragon), Tarinnia pulled out a flare Robina had given them prior to being shot into the air. With a flick of her fingers and a bit of mana, Tarinnia lit up the flare with a magically concieved fire and began looking for a place to stab the firework. There was none. So, the mage was left to hold the flare and hopefully not get her face blown off.

Within seconds a stream of sparks and light blasted out of the cardboard tube, pushing Tarinnia to the ground with brawn and force.

"I think I see Robina waving at us!" Naahma informed.

"Okay, so, now what?" ... "We didn't decide on what to do after we lit the flare, did we?"

"Nope!" Naahma was smiling, a crafty, rogue-ish smile that spelled mischief and madness, "But guess what? I can see something at the dragon's neck and I bet we could take it!"

"Are you _mad_?" Grimoire shouted, the first thing it had said since Tarinnia and Naahma promised not to light it on fire. Naahma didn't answer and began to slowly walk forward followed by Tarinnia who shoved Grimoire into her small satchel (to be quite frank, Grimoire should have known the answer to that question by now: _yes_).

"Why is there a midget with a dragon there?" Wondered Naahma, looking at the sight before them.

"I think that's Princess Tera," Tarinnia pointed out, "I want her dress, it's so cute! The tiara is adorable, too!"

"MINE! MINE! MINE! Get your own dwagon!" Princess Tera suggested, hiding behind the second, smaller dragon. This one was emerald and about as tall as Naahma. Speaking of Naahma, the rogue suddenly began to piece together what was going on. Upon realizing the truth of the situation, Naahma had only a few words to say:

"Wait... WHAT!"

"Why is this _your _dragon?" Tarinnia screamed, getting into a fighting stance. She didn't have a staff to channel her powers through which was a big pain in the ass because Tarinnia felt a tiring fight coming on.

"I'm sick of getting ponies from daddy-king!" Tera cried with a voice not entirely her own. Tarinnia and Naahma advanced carefully, thankful that Bloodtooth was gliding on air rather than flapping his large, strong wings, "A blue moglin gave me this pretty ring so I could play with any dwagon I want!"

"Motherfucking Zorbak!" Naahma hollered, pulling out a dagger from her belt, "I am going to roast him once we get down!"

"That's the ring of dragon control. It lets the wearer control any dragon!" Grimoire advised, having popped his eyes out from Tarinnia's satchel to gape at the ring around Tera's finger. The normally scared Grimoire was staring at the occasion with renewed intensity: did these girls really have what it took to be heros? As they faced the posessed princess and her dragon, Grimoire was begining to trust the duo. Perhaps, just perhaps, meeting them at the bookstore was not a case of coincidence, "However, the ring was cursed by Green Dragon Gorgok, so the wearer will be posessed by what remains of his soul."

"I suppose that dragon in front of the princess is Gorgok's physical manifestation?" Tarinnia imposed. Tera continued ahead, slowly lessening the distance between her and the insane group.

"Time to save a dragon from a princess!" Naahma decided, gripping another dagger in her other hand. Recognizing the challenge, Gorgok's tangible soul opened its mouth and shot a massive laser at them. They jumped out of the way of the attack, staring in absolute horror at the blast, "Okay, maybe it's more of a 'time to save our asses from the princess and dragon'," Naahma corrected herself, crouching low. Tarinnia was creating a ball of ice inbetween her hands, watching to make sure she didn't get hit by a laser of dragon energy while preparing. As Tarinnia arranged her spell, Naahma threw a knife at the princess' dragon. It struck the creature's chest, plunging little more than a centimetre into the dragon's scaled hide. The knife fell off leaving a little red hole, "... Anytime now, Tarinnia!" Naahma called in agony, jumping over a low flying beam of green light.

"Naahma, something's wrong! It's happening again!" Tarinnia warned, voice full of panic. Tarinnia appeared unmoving, stranded in one single position. It was as if she was immobilized from the shoulder down, stuck, premanently fabricating a spell that would never come to fruition.

"Goddammit, not _now_," Naahma growled, teeth clenched. It was clear that she couldn't take on Lady Tera's mind-controled beast on her own, and with Tarinnia unexpectedly out of comission, the battle appeared hopeless. However, not the one to give up, Naahma placed the knives she was about to throw back onto her belt. It was time she began being a bit more direct. This would probably land Naahma in a lot of trouble, but right now, desperate times called for desperate measures.

The rogue began running. Again, Naahma's normally tangled feet became swift and graceful, bringing her closer and closer to Tera's dragon. Unsurprisingly, the jade coloured beast lunged at Naahma, mouth wide open in a bite instead of send a burning ray of green into the sky. This was part of Naahma's plan and she dodged the bite effortlessly. Her hand reached over to the dragon's long, green-striped horns. Vaulting over the winged lizard, Naahma landed behind Tera and grabbed the youngest princess' arm, reaching for the stunning ring on the budding girl's hand.

Tera turned her head to face Naahma, eyes going wide with fright. She was, after all, a young girl, and despite controlling a scary looking dragon, she was prone to being scared. With a shreak, Tera commanded Bloodtooth to shake his head, throwing Naahma off balance. Letting go of the princess' wrist, Naahma tumbled down Bloodtooth's back. She pulled out one of her slightly longer knives and stabbed it into Bloodtooth's scales, holding on for dear life. Below Naahma her feet dangled in the air, the town of Battleon resting peacefully in the forest. The quaint air around Battleon seemed out of place considering the state Naahma and Tarinnia were now in. With Tarinnia paralyzed and unable to use her spells for some odd, odd reason and Naahma hanging many feet above the ground, all seemed hopeless.

Tarinnia was still standing in place, movement frozen from the shoulder down. She could crane her neck to see Naahma falling over and opened her mouth to scream, throat constricting as her best friend fell out of sight. Then Tarinnia's head snapped towards princess Tera and Gorgok's 'spirit', the green dragon advancing, moving, closer, closer...

"Work, dammit, work!" Tarinnia ushered herself. She had attempted to use numerous spells during the entire battle, but none of them were working. From fireballs to shards of ice, each and every spell had the same outcome: a fizzling sensation in the air around Tarinnia that ultimately ended in nothing. The green dragon opened its mouth, energy condensing into a sphere of energy. Charging its final attack, all Tarinnia could do was brace herself, palms facing Tera and Gorgok's spirit, the same pose she had been stuck in for what felt like a lifetime...

An abrupt ball of light and energy formed between Tarinnia's fingers and at the same time the paralyzes was lifted. Shocked at the sudden appearance of such power, Tarinnia found herself flung backwards as the swirling energy she somehow summoned unleashed its power: all the spells Tarinnia had been trying to use as she was paralyzed. The mage could feel her energy flowing at once, balls of fire and bricks of ice breaking themselves free from their otherwordly prison. In response, the green dragon let out its own attack. White and green met in an explosive blast, but Tarinnia's force managed to overcome the ring's. Green dissolved into nothingness allowing the unused fire and ice spells to spread forth. They struck Gorgok's spirit one by once, ice freezing the creature's blood and fire melting them, scorching the dragon. Normally, the creature would not have flinched, but the attacks came in such a great number and so quickly. The princess herself was beginning to feel the power of the cast spells, flinging her hand infront of her face to protect herself. Her green dragon flailed, its spiked tail crashing into Tera's hand, piercing her pristine white gloves. A young, horrified scream escaped the youngest daughter of Alteon as blood flew into the sky, left behind as Bloodtooth continued to circle above Battleon. The ring of dragon control was shattered to pieces and in response, Gorgok's physical manifestation dispersed in a flurry of green haze. Bloodtooth suddenly began to descend, awakening from his hypnosis-enduced slumber gradually. The sudden change of angle and speed sent the three girls aboard Bloodtooth falling, the dragon leaving them behind, crashing into a mountain minutes later.

Tarinnia stared at the sky, dazed. She felt so light, like a feather, but she knew she was falling. The clouds began to get farther and farther and the world was spinning, getting blurrier and blurrier...

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

...

"E..."

...

"Ake..."

Suddenly, colours.

"Wake up!" Twilly shouted, jumping on Tarinnia's stomach. Tarinnia quietly began to study her surroundings. She could feel her head screaming for rest, eyelids barely keeping themselves open. Since when did the day become so bright? The sun's striking rays gave Tarinnia a migraine and she held her arm to her head, pushing away locks of ivory hair.

"She used a lot of spells at once. She's probably very tired," one person said. Tarinnia struggled to remember who everyone was.. until she was promptly splashed in the face with cold water.

"Warlic! Don't _do _that," Cleric Joy exclaimed, helping Tarinnia sit up.

"She's more aware, isn't she?" Warlic answered, watching calmly. Tarinnia _was _more conscious, but she was also very wet and cold. As her head began to stop spinning, Tarinnia saw that she was sitting in the famous clearing on the hill a short walk south from Battleon. Various townsfolk had assembled under the great chestnut tree. From what Tarinnia could see, some of the peasants had left, only a few curious children watching.

"You see, that's how a real hero deals with a problem," Artix cheered.

"By beating up a princess, crashing a dragon, _and _destroying a rare artifact?" Robina retorted cooly. Despite her words, the ranger smiled softly, "Still, you girls did pretty well. Admittedly, you didn't have any orders to stop the dragon and princess Tera, but quick thinking saved the day at any rate."

Naahma, who was sitting beside Tarinnia, suddenly looked up and asked, "Oh, right, Lady Tera! How is she?"

In response, a stunned and frightened young girl poked her head out from behind Robina, watching Naahma and Tarinnia shyly.

"LOL," Artix spoke again (earning him some confused glances other than Robina who just facepalmed), "miss Tera will be fine. Her hand will require a few days to heal, but like I said, completely fine. King Alteon sent a message, too. He'd like to meet Naahma and Tarinnia in Swordhaven in a few days to thank you."

"I... don't understand," Tarinnia murmured, still as dizzy as hell. Naahma supported her friend with an arm, keeping Tarinnia from falling back, "Firstly, how are we alive?"

Cue everyone pointing a thub towards Warlic who just smiled smugly.

"What happened up there, Tarinnia?" The red moglin asked sweetly, hopping onto Tarinnia's lap. Tarinnia squealed like a little girl and embraced Twilly, displaying the hyperactive, fangirling nature Tarinnia was so known for.

"What with what?"

"He's talking about the whole 'unable to cast any spells' thing," Naahma explained, drawing doodles on the ground with a knife, "It's not the first time that's happened, isn't it?"

Arcana, the mage trainer, and Tarinnia's previous mentor, affirmed Naahma's statement, "No. It's happened quite a few times. It was why I passed on mentorship of Tarinnia to Warlic. If anyone could figure out what was wrong with Tarinnia..."

Twilly, who was locked in a boobhug, gasped for air, "What's wrong with Tarinnia?"

"Other than the weird fangasms she gets around you?" Naahma pipped, cheery with a dash of twisted, "A lot."

"_Ahem_," coughed the Magic Shoppe owner, liberating the group (Naahma, Tarinnia, Cleric Joy, Twilly, Arcana, Robina, Artix, and Warlic himself, if one was counting) of the massive amounts of awkward Tarinnia and Twilly were generating. The children watching were innocent enough to not understand the innuendo, thankfully, "I believe there's something wrong with her mana flow. Nothing life threatening, but it can be a bit of a hindrance. Up to now, the spells Tarinnia would cast while in this 'mana stasis' slowly died down."

"I tried to cast a lot more spells that normal this time around," Tarinnia added, letting Twilly free after the first minute, "Then, some sort of white light came up and the force pushed me back. I think I remember seeing all the spells I tried to cast suddenly blast out of the pretty glowing ball thing."

"Ah, I see. So, this time, the spells all came out at once? That must have been powerful."

"It massacred a dragon. It massacred a technically _already dead_ dragon," Naahma said, ever eager to support Tarinnia or point out the awesomeness of any situation.

"Does this mean I won the super power lottery?"

"More like awesome but impractical," Warlic deadpanned, "Do you think it's a good idea to be completely immobilized for a few minutes in the heat of battle? Also, you can't control it."

"Boo, you killjoy," Tarinnia whined, tired of her tutor's endless snarking.

"You need a name for you awesome but impractical, blessed with suck skill!" Artix suggested, being one of the most enthusiastic characters in the small gathering.

"I will call it '_lag_'," Tarinnia decided quickly, looking away from everyone to stare at the sky. It was a clear, blue afternoon compared to the dreary condition the morning had brought. As the group suggested they ask Cysero about this 'lag', Tarinnia was asking herself questions: why did the weather change so unexpectedly? Why did they defeat a dragon? Why did they have a talking book and why did Naahma fall off the cliff in the first place? Unbenownst to her, Naahma was asking the same questions.

The answer was lost in the clouds.


End file.
